07:01 pm - WHAT THE FUCK!?!?!?!This post in the UCSC community got my attention:

Stop military recruitmentSAW will protest military recruitment and the Iraq war on April 11. Protest is at McHenry Library, starting at 9AM.This event comes after April 5, 2005's counter-recruitment action for which SAW was labeled a "credible threat" by the Pentagon and the October 18, 2005 Queer kiss-in. This year SAW approached the Administration with some reasonable suggestions as to how a peaceful protest can occur without disrupting the rest of the career fair. These suggestions have not been adopted by the Administration.

This one set me off to begin with because of the "credible threat" bit. People really seem to misunderstand the language there. Now they're wearing as a badge of pride as though they're a threat to the administration. I'm still amazed that they claim that the Pentagon was spying on them.

Well, let's see these "reasonable suggestions", shall we?

These reasonable suggestions included the following: Accommodating a floor plan whereby students can protest the recruiters directly and not affect the rest of the event; Allowing media access to the event; Commitment to not collect student identification, or employ excessive police force, both of which serve to intimidate students interested in peaceful free expression.

Ok, so according to them, it's reasonable to:1. Single out one particular entity at the job fair2. Allow non-students in to an event for students3. Not provide security for an event which has a protest planned for it which in the past has led to protestor initiated violence and property damage.

That sounds _perfectly_ reasonable to me.

SAW regrets that the University Administration has failed to commit to upholding its own stated policy of protecting free speech and free assembly. In doing so, the Administration has lost a real opportunity to de-escalate any potential points of conflict in the coming days.

I think we've read similar bits from bin Laden, haven't we?

SAW has approached the administration for over a month to assure peaceful conditions for peaceful expression, free from excessive force or intimidation. But these efforts have been so far fruitless, as the Administration has adopted stalling tactics and has so far refused to seriously consider any of SAW's suggestions or supply any solutions of its own. On the contrary, there are reports that additional police from an out-of-town police department will be brought in at a great cost (rumored to be over $10,000) to the University.

There actually hasn't been "excessive force" involved at all. Unless, of course, it's excessive to not allow the recruiter's tires to be slashed. It's probably excessive to break up shoving matches between protestors and the recruiters as well.

I find it bitterly amusing that among the heroes of these people are probably Martin Luther King and Mahatma Gandhi -- who never asked for things remotely close to any of the above.